It’s not a deal with the devil, per say. More like a deal with myself—but the most demanding and hard-to-satisfy part of myself. The deal is that I will write one blog post per day, and spend an hour writing my novel each day. Non-negotiable. The first thing I...

Two years into operating as a freelancer with Hey, Sarah, I wrote out professional goals for myself and the company. I included financial benchmarks, goals for delegating and outsourcing, and goals for seeking new business. I also wrote down personal goals, like...

Author writes book; author finds agent; agent finds publisher. Right? That’s the “roadmap” for getting your book published—at least it was! Then the rise of self-publishing threw my perceived roadmap on its ear and took out the middle men and women...

First, let me briefly sing the praises of Google Docs. These apps have literally changed the way I work and collaborate, the way I report to my clients, the way I manage my to-do lists. Brilliant. One often-overlooked app in the Google Docs family is Google Forms. The...

Thanks to Galleycat for this great list of free ways to promote your self-published eBook: Free Sites for eBook Promotion (this is taken from the Galleycat article—read the whole thing on their site here) Addicted to eBooks: “This website is perfect for readers like...

Ruts happen. When you’re trying to grow your social media accounts, you may notice that growth just stops once in a while. Sometimes this has to do with the algorithms of Facebook. Sometimes it is because your content has stopped appealing to your audience, or...

Your book name or your author name? A division name or a company name? Choosing what to name your Facebook fan page is a big decision, because Facebook won’t allow you to change it down the road. Here are some factors to help you decide: Do you have a business,...

My message for every author: don’t hire an expensive web designer until you make the bestseller list. Instead, focus your time and effort on creating good, catchy content and building up a network of online fans. You can create a DIY site easily that has strong...

Facebook Personal Page: PROS: you probably already have one!, friends are more responsive to personal pages than to fan pages. CONS: maximum of 5000 friends, mutual approval process to connect as friends. Facebook Fan Page: PROS: You can run “Like”...

“Where do I start with social media?” is the number question I hear from authors, publishers, agents, and everyone else who is overwhelmed by the craziness of social media. “Do I need to tweet?” “What should I say on Twitter?”...